Isn't that an odd philosophy for a vampire?
by random passager
Summary: Yeah, vampires again. Or more specifically; vampire virus. Bioterrorists have spread a virus through Barsburg. Guess what Ayanami is doing this time?  TeitoxHakuren, OOC & AU
1. PROLOGUE

**Isn't that an odd philosophy for a vampire?**

The title is actually a quote by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro (a name that I've never heard of until today ^^"). So, this is another vampire story. I must say that I had the choice between a vampire virus and (the more common one) the zombie virus. But I thought that you wouldn't like to read that any your favorite 07-Ghost character turned into an unattractive zombie.

**Note:** If you're sick of reading vampires because you have already enough from Twilight, Vampire Knight, Dracula or any other series and movies that I don't know, believe me, I am too. -_-lll That is why my plot is more concentrated on the genre of science-fiction, politic and philosophy than fantasy.

**Disclaimers:** I do not own 07-Ghost, its characters and its concepts. I do not own the quotes, sayings and proverbs.

**Warning:** The following content may not be suitable for serious democrats. If you are a democrat and you can't take my jokes (and even with this warning, you still read my fiction), I can only apologize by telling you that it's because I thought that democrats are more open than any proponents of other political form. So… *glup*

**Warning:** The upper warning wasn't mean to be harmful to the proponents of other political forms…

(Damn! I scrap my intro. 囧)

Ok, forget it.

Please read the story and enjoy.

**PROLOGUE**

Barsburg National Academy was a private high school, ranked as the leading educational institution in Barsburg by numerous media and online rankings. The school's color: black: black buildings, black gates, black uniforms, black desks and seats, black meal in the cafeteria and black china for the toilet bowl. It was a color reflecting dark emptiness, absorbing all light coming in and tolerating no light to escape – symbolizing power, anarchy and death…

Before the beginning of class, students always liked to gather in group, using all the free time given to continue conversations, as today morning.

"I learn it from the news; their occurrences are more often, even during days!" announced a student waving the daily newspaper.

"Really, don't they fear the sun?" said one.

"They must have put a special sunscreen or something from the black market," said another one.

As always, a leading speaker caught quickly the attention of others. A group of people soon crowded around him.

"But no worry my fellows; the governments will soon develop the ultimate vaccine that can turn a vampire back to a normal human being," the student with the newspaper continued, putting his right fist up as if he was or part of the heroes that could save everyone.

"But what if they cost money?" "My daddy was bitten and they said that they had no choice but to put him in a rehab. I've never seen him since!" "That what happened to my sister!" "That's what happened to my dog!" "Arg, that stupid bird flu, I wish they'll figure out soon what kind of mutate bird that is such a pain in the ass and so we can eliminate it all!" Murmurs grew.

"Bird flu? – Oh my dear comrade, how many bird do you think those media have made us kill?" said a loner sitting in the corner of the classroom. He was called Hakuren Oak. He then stood up and joined the crowd. "Why don't you go listen a bird trial and find out who's the real criminal instead of taking the words of the news without questioning your common senses? Of course, I'm not implying that there exist bioterrorists that are spreading a virus that can change human into something similar to a vampire (which surprisingly explains why the so-called vampires aren't afraid of sun light), and bringing chaos and then giving protections and aids can help the authorities to gain power and trust, and also selling vaccine which was developed at the same time as the virus can help their medical department to make more money. No, I'm not saying that of course."

In silence, the entire class stared at Hakuren in disbelieve. Their gaze concentrated on him with disgust and prejudgment. Hakuren calmly stood firmly in the middle, surrounded by eyes that were blinded by the media, the lies and false hope spit out from the government's sweet speeches. Now, who said _it takes one person to change the world_?

"Wow, I forgot my homework at home. Better go get it." Hakuren walked towards the exit of the class.

"What the hell is he saying?" whispered one student. "Is he against our authority?"

"Bioterrorism? That's impossible, our country is in peace!" yelled the boy with the newspaper.

Hakuren ignored his classmates' comments. Although, it wasn't because of humiliation or guilt for what he just said, he had to hide himself for _what_ was going to come next. He went to the restroom and washed his face. He leaved the water flowing underneath the large mirror in which he looked at his own reflection. Desperately, he pushed his long blond hair away, revealing the scar on his neck. As his vision blurred, he lost balance and fell on the cold wet ceramic.


	2. EVERY END IS A NEW BIGINNING

**Isn't that an odd philosophy for a vampire?**

NOTE: Starting from here, the story is Teito's POV.

PS: Please review for suggestion and comments. Thanks.

**CHAPTER ONE: EVERY END IS A NEW BIGINNING (proverb)**

Hakuren appeared a bit unusual this morning. Though, somehow I had a feeling that something made sense in his words. Certainly, there were no point in suspecting that the leaders of our nation, whom we were serving and paying tax to, were using us for their own interests.

As Hakuren passed by my desk, I realized that Mikage had not arrived yet. Maybe he forgot to set his alarm again.

The bell rang.

Teacher Frau came in with his usual greeting: a yawn. While he ordered us to sit down, the school vice-president popped in.

"Good morning everyone! It's me, your favorite vice-president, M. Lance!"

"Oh… This must be a very important case," a student sneered.

"Yeah, someone must be dead," added another.

Usually M. Lance rarely came to class. Even if it was for calling a student to give detention or for appointment with the parents, he would use the intercom.

"I know you are all very excited to see me," continued M. Lance, ignoring his audience laughs. "But today, I'm sorry to say that I cannot chat and hang out with you for the very important case that I'm about to announce. It's going to be difficult for you, and especially for those that are more concerned." His voice dropped low and sorrowful. "Yesterday, one of your beloved classmate, Mikage, was send to hospital due to H54N32 infection."

My body twitched. Silence reinstalled in the room.

"Sadly, our dead friend Mikage was too late for the treatment. Thus the doctors decided to throw him into a pit." He raised his hands. "Amen to our dear friend, Mikage!"

Chairs grunted, everyone stood up and let their neck bent, eyes looking at the floor.

"Mikage, our beloved student, we wish you well in heaven!" He dropped his hands and let the moment of silence take over the room, and that silence was more silent than ever. The clock on the wall seemed to have stopped ticking; the whispers and the respiration around me were muted, as well as my own respiration and heartbeats. My ear stopped receiving sound waves.

Before my eyes would stop functioning, I ran out, forgetting about manners. Tears began to drop as I passed through the endless hallway.

I couldn't believe it.

He promised me.

"Teito, I shouldn't leave you alone," he said last week, "even if you were not exactly alone, because God is always with you."

"But Mikage," I replied, "I'm not Christian."

"Don't worry, stay at my house this evening. Vampires are too dangerous and the tonight is the full moon. "

"What if we can't possibly fight them alone."

"If we die, we'll die together."

He promised me that we would die together.

I stopped running when I lost sense of where I was going. Instead, I stood stupidly in the middle of the empty hallway. There was no one, not even a bird or a bug on the other side the windows. The color turned saturated. The world suddenly became lifeless as if I was the very last living being on Earth.

He was thrown into a pit - died that is. But how exactly did that happened? How could he die?

I remembered it was after our Chemistry class, when we were on our way back home. We always took the long path on Friday so we could have more time together outside. Then, when we passed by the fence surrounding the dump yard, a vampire jumped onto our way.

"Teito! You can't kill that monster with your sharpener!" He yelled after I took out the only sharp material in my backpack.

I wanted to help, even if Mikage said that I was too short for martial art.

"If you really want to help, then stay back." He grabbed a steel stick that had one end out of the fence.

So I did, I let Mikage fighting alone with a vampire for the third time. Was that all I could do? I was ashamed.

"Ahhh!" Mikage's arm got bitten. (At least, that was what I saw.)

It was time for me to save him! I took out the plug of my earphone from my Samsung MP4 and plugged it into the eye of the undead.

For a second I thought I plugged it on the wrong person.

The vampire shouted in pain and hit me with his head. I fell and my head hit on a brick.

I didn't know how much time I spent on the ground. When I woke up, the first thing I saw was Mikage's warm smile in front of the sunset at the horizon. The vampire was gone.

"Mikage! Are you alright? Let me see your arm."

I took his arm and moved the sleeve. There was not a single trace of blood. Even his school uniform was intact.

"I'm glad you're ok. I thought you were bitten."

"I thought you were bitten," he said with a laugh.

And so, we went back home and played DDR as we usually do. That was last weekend. Though, his arms were alright, I did saw the vampire opened its mouth, stuck its teeth into the flesh, fresh blood drops dripping down on the asphalt.

There was no blood on the asphalt either when I checked before leaving.

"Ahhhhhh-urhhh-ehhhhhhhh…" A sound echoed from the restroom. I looked up and realize that I was standing next to the men's washroom. I walked toward, opened the door and peeked inside cautiously. Though, I could have gone in directly. This position looked more like I was spying someone - a guy in the washroom. But this was to make sure before entering the unknown.

There, in a corner, sat a blond with one hand covering his eyes and the other one holding his shirtfront against his chest.

I went to the sink and stopped the water flow.

"Hakuren? Are you alright?"

He moved his hand, showing me one of his eyes. I was shocked to see that his iris was actually switching color; from purple to red and then, red to purple – like a bad signal TV channel.

"Am I alright? Do you have any idea of what I'm suffering through?"

"Hum, no. Sorry."

Perhaps, I should go. He looked like a mad beast in an electric cage labeled a panel hanging on bars, with the words "Do not touch!" written in bold.

"Hey, come back here!" He yelled when I was about to leave. "You're going to leave me like this, heartless kid?"

"Who are you calling a kid?" I yelled back. If it was not because he was suffering badly, I would beat him. "So, what do you want?"

"I need to go see the nurse, but I can't walk correctly. And since you don't look strong enough to take me there, can you call him here?"

How rude... asking me to help after insulting me twice and without saying please.

"Fine. Wait here."

"Is there anywhere else I can go, ridiculous child?"

I ground my teeth. He could at least thank me for not beating him. But I went.

Hakuren wasn't very appreciated at school. He was always alone, which made some people thought that he was suffer from depression or mental illness. "Hakuren has long hair, so I presume he's gay," said a random guy I heard at the cafeteria. But, what was really odd from him was his insulting ability. Whenever he got targeted by bullies, he would finish them off easily by saying stuff like "As the 13th descendant of the Father of Witchcraft, I'll curse you to death!", "Oh, yes. We'll meet again; in your nearest nightmare.", or "Calm down! Or you'll scare my dead hamster's soul away. I don't want to lose him again."

Sometime, he used foreign words, too.

For a such intelligent person, his school result were however pretty ordinary. Some people thought he was making mistakes on propose. Last year, the number one on the top-ten-students-list actually investigated on it. "Why you keep hiding your intelligence? It's not like I would kill you if you beat my records." Hakuren's answer really ended her investigation. "Quit following me. I know the love letters in my locker was written by you." It was a lie. The girl knew it, but not her friends. She got deeply embarrassed and she never talked to him again. But strangely, on following day, in front of everyone, Hakuren went to her desk and told her the answer. "The truth is I don't need all those knowledge because when I grow up, I want to be a Pokemon trainer."

I finally understood why Mikage told me "Teito, do not approach that lunatic. Talking with him is a headache." But I wondered why Hakuren said that thing about the authorities this morning. He never did that kind of joke – nobody ever said bad things on respected rulers and commonly acknowledged heroes of our nation.

So, I brought the school nurse, Dr. Labrador. After a quick check up, we found two holes on the side of his neck. Dr. Labrador called the ambulance, which was soon arrived. Some nurses in white uniform picked up Hakuren. One of them came to us, his hand holding a small device.

"This detector can tell us if you have been bitten by that vampire. Now, take out one of your hand."

The detector tested Dr. Labrador first. Nothing happened. But when it came to my turn, it beeped.

"Oh, I'm afraid that I must take you with me."

"No!" I argued. "I wasn't bitten!"

"I'm afraid that the detector is more trustful than you memory, which may have been altered by the shock of your injury."

"I'm not injured!"

He ignored me that pulled my arm, dragging me to the exit. Dr. Labrador blocked the way. "Wait! There might be a mistake. Could you please try again?"

"Fine," he put my arm down and approached the device to me once more. When its needle stung my finger and beeped again, I realized something. The machine did not lie of course, the controller did.

"See, machines never lie," he said.

"No! I don't accept this!" I struggled.

"Don't accept it? Then, you are accused of refusing of national policy cooperation. And that is a $1000 fine and five years of prison. Is that what you want?"

No way! There was no option C?

"No," I said desperately.

The nurse dragged me through a crowd of students and into the ambulance. Hakuren was in there, lying on the stretcher with his eyes closed. As the nurses locked the back doors, on the other side of the small glass window, Dr Labrador stared at me with a sad looking in his face.

Who thought that the ending of helping someone would turn out to be this? (And was I supposed to be thankful that the vampire I just helped didn't bite me even though nobody believed me?) Now, I regretted; I really should just beat him and leave him there.


	3. THE BASIS OF A DEMOCRATIC STATE

**Isn't that an odd philosophy for a vampire?**

A/N: You know that authors love reviews, so can you be generous? XD

**CHAPTER TWO: THE BASIS OF A DEMOCRATIC STATE IS LIBERTY (Aristotle)**

They put me in a miserable cuboid cell. I was sitting against the wall, facing at the opposite side, where Hakuren was sleeping on the icy floor. I feel like an animal trapped in a small cage with no food, no water and no bed. The only difference between a cell and a cage was that the cell had nine surveillance cameras and one light bulb suspending to the distanced ceiling.

A bit earlier, after the long ride in the ambulance, I was arrived in the AYA Federal Laboratory.

"How strange! According to our studies, after one hour, you should feel pain," one of the nurses said to me. They brought me in the building and redid the blood test with another detector.

"The result is negative," said a doctor with a zigzag smile. "The last detector was probably broken."

"Then, can I go back to school now?"

"Yes, of course." I was about to leave until he said "Oh! Hold on a second…" He called his assistant who gave him a paper, "This is the bill. You must pay it before you leave." He passed it to me.

"The bill?"

"Yes. You see, the check-up is not free."

"What?"

"It is only free for people who have been bitten. Not for prank or…"

"I didn't wish to come here. I was forced to because of your broken device."

"I'm afraid I cannot do anything about it. If you came here and asked for a check-up, unless you are about die, you have to pay."

I look at the price.

"Nine thousands nine hundreds ninety-nine and ninety-nine?"

"Exactly." Zigzag smile.

"I can't pay ten thousands; I don't have enough."

"No, it is nine thousands nine hundreds ninety –"

"I don't have – even if you ask my parents because I don't have any parents."

"Oh, this is difficult! Well, there is another way to pay. According to the state policy, you can return a product, so you can return a service. Why not repay us with a service?"

A service that worth ten thousands? The only thing I knew was that I had no chance to get ten thousands even if I had to sell all my organs and tissues.

"Alright, what kind of service?"

And this is how I got into this cell.

Hakuren woke up. I tried to hide my presence by staying in silence. I knew his bloody eyes could see me sooner or later. But I hoped the vaccine would soon take effect. It was only a matter of time.

"Remember," I recite what the doctor with the zigzag smile said before he locked me here, "it takes between one to ten minutes for the vaccine to take effect. After ten minutes, if he still wants to bite you, press the button on the wall and we will come at your rescue."

"How am I going to know the time? I don't have a watch."

"Then press it when you can't hold him anymore. Now, go ahead! Just try not to kill yourself and have fun."

Hakuren sensed my presence. His eyes turned, our gaze met. When he was about to jump on me, I stood up and ran away. His irises were deadly crimson and his jaw was extensively opened with suspending drops of saliva.

Who said that vampires were attractive?

As he followed, we played cat-chase-mouse in rotation. I knew I couldn't escape from his sight, but at least I could gain more time.

At the end, obviously, I gave up. I couldn't catch my breath anymore. Why were vampires more enduring? - not faster but more enduring. So, he caught me from the back and crushed me against the wall. By luck the button was on that wall, just beside me. My hand reached out to press that button as he prepared to sting his… sharpless fangs into my neck?

Wait a minute! What kind of vampire was that?

"Ahhhh!" I screamed.

Everything went too fast. Hakuren already bit me and I didn't even have time to push the button.

He did bite me, did he? With his sharpless teeth.

Still confused, we stayed in that position for a while; his hands on my face and his face on my neck. His body was cold, like all his intracorporeal activities were stopped, except his heartbeat and his respiration. His breath smelled like the vaccine.

Suddenly he moved away.

"Teito! What happened? Did I bite you?"

I touched my neck, the part where he left some saliva. There was only a trace of his teeth, no blood was found.

On second thought, I won the game. The vaccine finally took effect!

"You almost kill me!" I sighed.

"Oh." Hakuren looked around, turning away. "Where are we?" Then, he covered his nose. "And what is that smell?"

A smell?

There was a problem that must be told and solved. I couldn't stay like that. The humidity and the smell – no need to mention Hakuren or me, even animal can't bear _this_! (Whatever you think it is) _this_ wasn't impressing at all.

"Taito!" Hakuren stared at me, but mostly, he stared at – "You urinate your pants, BAKA!" He covered his face and yelled in madness. "NO! DON'T WRITE THIS NASTY THING! KISAMA!"

(Author: Bear it! *evil laugh* I just couldn't resist. And besides, this _phenomenon_ is realist. I don't mean _this_ suit Teito, but _it_ can happen to everyone.

Hakuren: BUT WHAT DO YOU WANT US TO DO AFTER _THIS_?

Teito: *gloomy face with a ghost in his mouth*

Author: Ok, ok, I'll redo this *back-to-serious-face*)

Hakuren covered his nose. "And what is that smell?"

"Hm…" I sniffed around and answered "Your vaccine?" (This is never serious.)

"…" He stared at me with his jaw open. "HOW CAN I POSSIBLY SMELL SOMETHING THAT WAS INJECTED IN ME?"

(Author: Ah dud, stop complaining! *restarting all over*)

"So, where are we?" Hakuren asked, changing the conversation topic.

"We are in a test chamber of the AYA Federal Laboratory."

"What does that supposed to mean?"

"They want you to test their latest developed vaccine."

"So they forcefully converted me into their sample and locked us in here?"

"Well, more or less like it, yes."

"That wasn't what I expected. Actually, I prefer to be thrown in a pit than to be their laboratory rat."

"Why do you say that?"I grabbed him by his shoulder. "As a citizen of Barsburg, it's our duty and our honor to serve our country and its people."

"You don't understand!" He pushed me away and then sighed. "Never mind. Now, tell me, why are you here?"

So, I told him about the detector and the bill. "To repay them, they want me to stay here and stimulate your desire for blood. This is also to test the vaccine efficacy."

I just realized how dangerous it was after I said "desire for blood". Fortunately, nothing happened.

"Something's not right." Hakuren said and looked away. "The vaccine is supposed to be developed at the same time as –" He turn back to me and continued "Teito, do you believe me if I say that everything; the broken detector, the bill and the service to repay, was all their plan?"

When I was sitting in the waiting room with that zigzag smiling doctor, I doubted about that actually. But that thought quickly vanished away. Perhaps, I was afraid to believe in it. Afraid of what, though? - that our government was hiding something, or that I would believe in something wrong.

"I think I kind of notice that. But it doesn't mean that the plan is against us."

Hakuren held his reply, like he just regretted to say something that he wasn't supposed to. He then distanced me as far as possible and sat down at the corner, between two adjacent walls.

"Stay near of that button. If anything happen, don't hesitate on pushing it."

I agreed. I didn't want to do _that thing_ again.

No~ what was I talking about?

I was glad that Hakuren stopped calling me a kid or a child. Was it because vampires were generally nicer than humans? Did I just say that vampires were nicer? What an idiotic thought, I was at risk of dying and joining Mikage! But if death could bridge my way to him, I wouldn't refuse taking that bridge. If not, at least, it could free my soul from this world that seemed to slide down a slope of chaos.


	4. TO BE OR NOT TO BE, THAT'S THE QUESTION

**Isn't that an odd philosophy for a vampire?**

A/N: I know that some important details, such as the vampire virus, are still unexplained or look rather unreliable. But don't worry, you'll be able to connect everything soon with the following chapter**s**. And of course, reviews are appreciated.

**CHAPTER THREE: TO BE OR NOT TO BE, THAT'S THE QUESTION (Shakespeare)**

Hakuren was sleeping, his head on his knees. It was calm, too calm, again – like time was nonexistent – and I couldn't stop thinking about Mikage, which made the moment even calmer and sorrowful. Absolute silence could stimulate your amygdala and your hippocampus, especially when a suspicious sound suddenly broke in. Hakuren began to breathe louder.

"Hum, Hakuren? Are – are you ok?" My voice was trembling.

He didn't answer. Therefore, I could not know if he was hungry or he had a nightmare.

I was hungry.

"It's just a low blood sugar," he said after he opened one eye. "Teito, you look delicious to eat." He smirked.

His words just freaked me out. I hoped he was joking.

"Hakuren, I was wondering. Why do you always distance yourself from others?" I tried to distract him.

"You think I should stay closer to you?"

"No, no, no! I mean at school. I've never seen you close to anyone. And I found it odd about what you said on the authorities this morning."

"Teito," he said with a more serious voice, "if you're trying to distract me, well you're not. The more you talk, the more I feel your presence. The more I feel your presence, the more I want to – You understand? Now, stop talking."

Perhaps, I was only good at staying near the button.

In the center of the room, a large plate, containing foods, a glass of blood and a napkin, was pulled down from the ceiling. There must be a pulley and an opening, but I couldn't see them due to the light bulb that blued the above. When the plate touched the floor, the string, that was used to pull it down, was automatically detached and rose back up until it disappeared into the light.

Hakuren stood up and rush to the plate, but to my surprise, it wasn't for the glass of blood, it was for –

"Let us out! You fake democrats!" He yelled to the ceiling like he was possessed.

I was completely dazed by what he just said. Fake democrats? That was totally... uncommon... inappropriate... eccentric! Of course, we had the freedom of speech, but if anyone insult the authority that everyone loved so much, that person would get beat up by others very badly.

Hakuren could no longer stay focus on the ceiling. He was trembling really hard like he was about to explode. He fell on his knees and tried to reach the glass of blood… but he took the napkin instead and red what appeared to be a sentence written on it. "_Congratulations! You both have stayed alive for 6 hours. You may now enjoy your first dinner at AYA Federal Laboratory. ;)_"

Still mad, he torn the letter and threw it in the blood.

"LISTEN, YOU BARBARIC POLITICIANS! WHEN I TURN INTO A GHOST, I WILL POSSESS THE MASTERMIND AND DESTROY YOU ALL!"

Even now, his kept his elegant tone and creative insults, but still those words were eccentric.

He rushes to one of the wall. Just before he success in bumping his head on the wall's surface, I ran to him and stopped him by holding him back. "Are you out of your mind? Just drink the damn blood!"

He turned to me and grabbed me by the head. I now realized that I should not have stopped him; a vampire couldn't die by hitting his head. He was already dead! Moreover, he would probably kill his savior.

Hakuren licked my neck.

"Ahhhh!" I pushed him away and he fell by the plate.

Like a obsessed victim who was deprived of drug for a long time, Hakuren failed to resist. He took and drank the glass of blood… with the letter within. He then went back to his corner and sat down, like nothing had happened. I took what was left in the plate and went back to where I was sitting. There was a small box of Romano's Macaroni Grill Chicken Florentine salad added with French Feta cheese and a bottle of natural spring water.

"Teito!" Hakuren called out. "Don't eat too quickly. Sodium rich food can increase your blood pressure." Was he telling me that he was able to feel my presence by reading my blood pressure? "By the way, you can talk now. I suppose that glass of blood can hold me a while, probably."

That was assuring.

"OK, let's talk about the democrats. Why do you controvert them?"

"Because they are bad."

"..."

"And fake."

"Then, what are they in reality?"

"Remember the song that they make us sing in elementary school? _Governing power derived from the people; citizens secured by legitimized rights; liberties protected by a constitution; everyone can vote and every vote has equal weight. Barsburg, oh, my motherland! Chief of Heaven, oh, I believe in you! Amen."_

"Of course, I have never forgotten that."

"And now, think of what they done to you. Did you accept to be here? Was it liberty and security? Does your voice really count as the same weight as theirs?"

"But we are in crisis now," I said after a long pause. "They might not have enough volunteers if they don't do this."

"Oh our dear child thinks it's volunteering!"

"Stop calling me a child!"

"They are forcing you to do this! To them, you're nothing but their sl-subject." He changed the last word, but I could still guess what he really wanted to say: slave.

"I don't believe you. You don't have any proof."

"You want the proof?"

I paused and nodded.

Hakuren stood up and went sitting next to me.

"What are you doing?" I asked, alerted.

"Don't worry," he whispered to my ear. "It's only to prevent surveillance camera recording."

That was a very prudent decision. It gave me goose bumps, though, feeling his voice so close to my ear.

"After the Chief of Heaven had been elected as president, Verloren, his son-in-law, built the Black Hawks Federal Laboratory. He and his personal subordinates developed a protocol of brainwash that could uniform the citizens' ideology. That means everyone would have the same world view, which is the world view imposed by the government. Their brainwash process began with the first state and ended with the seventh state. But before Verloren and his troupe came to the last state, many citizens was already aware of the situation and escaped to the Republic of Raggs.

"During this time, I was part of the refugees; I was almost five.

"Verloren called for the army to destroy the Republic of Raggs. The United Nation tried to bring peace back between the two countries, but failed. Barsburg's army came back when the Raggsian president, Weldeschtein Krom Raggs, was assassinated and Verloren continued brainwashing the seventh state.

"Meanwhile, the Barsburgish survivors formed the Anti-Brainwash Clan (A.B.C.) with some Raggsian survivors. And I was also part of this clan. We traveled secretly through Barsburg to inform people about Verloren's protocol and to recruit members, so one day, we could be strong enough to bring freedom to our country, and Verloren and the Chief of Heaven to justice. In less than three months, we reached up to one millions of members. Unfortunately, we was soon found and stopped.

"Verloren was so happy to find a mass of samples for his laboratory tests. He put us in his back yard, surrounded by electric fences. Well, it was not really a back yard, it was called 'ghetto'. I was put in a small room with my mother, my father and my sister, Shuri Oak, waiting for our turn to be used in a medical test. The bed was so small that I had to sleep on top of my sister. (She was chubby, so it was comfortable.)

"Two weeks later, after the death of my mother, my sister and I found a small whole on the electric fence and decided to announce this to our neighbors. On that night, I escaped the Black Hawks Federal Laboratory with two other kids of my age. The whole was too small, so my sister couldn't go through. I still remember the last thing she said before she disappeared in a bomb explosion, "Yo bro, don't forget to brush your teeth twice and wash your hair every day. Seriously, cut them; they accumulate germs and smell really bad."

"So the two other kids and I ran. They got injured and died. I got lost. Luckily, an old woman adopted me because I was cute.

"The day after, I saw in the news that Verloren was killed by an accident of explosive gas. The journalist highlighted that it was a very common case in laboratory. It was also said that Verloren's son, Ayanami, who was travelling in Hawaii during his father's death, came back and rebuilt a bigger and fancier laboratory, called the AYA Federal Laboratory.

"I knew the news was fake. Verloren was killed by a bomb activated by the A.B.C. and Ayanami… was travelling in Cuba.

"I was deeply upset and depressed and I regretted that I didn't try to save my sister, even though she was fatty meanie that always steal my food.

"I didn't say anything to anyone, not even to my adoptive grand-mother. I knew they wouldn't believe me because they got brainwashed. But when I came to Barsburg National Academy, I said it to Frau. Actually, that was my second time meeting Frau. He was a wise philosopher who took position on many topics such as freedom of rights, of religion, gender equality and homosexuality. His talents were difficult to be seen because he used a pseudonym for his works. However, my parents knew him somehow and told him about the brainwash before the A.B.C got caught.

"So, on one afternoon, I went to Frau's office and told my story and also the fact that I had suicidal tendencies.

"'You stupid brat commit suicide at an age that you barely know what the hell is really going on in this world.'

"'Then… should I?'

"'No! You're too young! How can you abandon life without experience the joy of drinking alcohol and having sex?'

"Frau was really wise! After he told me this I finally understood what I had to do. How could one abandon his live without completing a goal, bring some change to the world, make progress to human civilization? From that day on, I had decided that I wanted to be Pokémon trainer! So I trained hard, skipped school exams…"

Hakuren fell asleep on my shoulder. I was unable to move him or myself because he wrapped his arms around me. This position was worst!

I put down the box of salad.

"Hey, Hakuren. You're story is weird and full with typos. So, I'm still not convinced." I tried to wake him up by saying nonsense, but I failed.

Whatever. I closed my eyes and tried not to think too much about the possible pains. If this salad was the last meal, if I would see that red eyes when waking up, if this was how I would die, I hopped that it would proceed quickly.


	5. WHICH CAME FIRST: THE CHICKEN OR THE EGG

**Isn't that an odd philosophy for a vampire?**

A/N: The beginning is not Teito's POV.

**CHAPTER FOUR: WHICH CAME FIRST: THE CHICKEN OR THE EGG? (causality dilemma)**

Kuroyuri entered the monitoring station and greeted hir assistant. Sie sat down and opened hir computer. The AYA logo showed on the screen.

"Stupid Ayanami! Why did he call it AYA? It's so girlish! If he added flowers around the logo, it would exactly look like a fashion or a makeup company." Kuroyuri's eyes turned to the surveillance monitors and smiled. "Oh, that's surprising. Isn't it, Haruse?"

Images of Hakuren sleeping on Teito in different angles were shown on the surveillance monitors.

"True, Dr. Kuroyuri." Haruse showed hir the computer data. "Report for subject 07: after you left to eat your lunch, I gave subject 07 a regular dose. Unlike the previous samples, this one read the instruction first, offended verbally our authorities and then took the dose."

Kuroyuri gazed at the spot where Hakuren was until sie finally turned back to Haruse.

"He's going to be fun."

* * *

"Teito." Somebody called me, I opened my eyes. "Teito." It was Hakuren, facing me with his new permanent colored eyes.

I fell asleep. I could still sleep.

"Did something happen?" I said in a rush.

"Nope. Except that you were calling a name, nothing else happened."

"A name?" It must be 'Mikage'.

"Did you dream about a girl?" He reached to my forehead. "Look how much you sweated."

"No, it wasn't!" I pushed his hand away.

"Calm down. The more you sweat, the more I feel your body temperature. The more I feel your body temperature, the more I want to – You got it? Now, stop sweating."

I wiped the sweats off, but they kept coming back.

I tried to think of something else. Right, I called a name. Although it was in a dream, it felt so realistic – actually, it was more like a nightmare; Mikage was turned into a zombie and he almost ate me. I was trying to save him desperately, calling his name, begging him to stay alive. But it was hopeless, he died already. No matter how much I wanted to save him, how many nightmares I would make again, he would never come back.

"Teito, I only told you to stop sweating, not start crying."

I wiped off the tears, but they also kept coming back. I must look pathetic.

"It was Mikage, right?"

"You know it?" I asked, surprised.

"You were calling his name really loudly, how can I not know? He's your boyfriend, right?"

"What?" I jumped on my feet. "What makes you think that I'm...? Why do you...?"

He laughed and pulled me down. "I'm just kidding you. Look how much you blushed."

"Oh." I bent my neck to hide my cheeks. I could not believe that he was having fun in this place.

"I first met him during the mini class debate on online social security at school. Since I was his opponent, it didn't end well for him. So what made him so important that you kept calling him in your dream?"

I lowered my head even more. "Mikage is gone now."

"What happened?" His tone turned less amusing. I supposed, he can be understanding sometime, too.

"Today… or yesterday", I explained, realizing that I had no idea what date we were at this point. "The vice-president came and announced it when you were in the restroom. As for the cause, he said that he was affected but was too late for a treatment. I suppose he got himself bitten when he tried to save us from a vampire. Then to continue protecting me, he tried to suppress his need for blood, and refuse to leave me so he didn't go to the hospital in time." Tears slid down my cheeks again.

"So, Lance came and told you Mikage is dead. This type of news happened two times in the other classes, too."

I turned my eyes to him in surprise. "You just called him 'Lance'? That's so informal!" Usually, calling an elder like that would cost a detention.

"What's the big deal? I called him that way since I came to BNA [BNA = Barsburg National Academy]. Now, back to what we were talking. I think Lance is probably saying the same thing about me now."

"What do you mean?"

"Mikage might not be dead."

"What?" Did he know something?

"On Sunday, I was carefully training my Puccachu in my backyard when Mikage suddenly jumped out from a tree like an ape and bit me on the neck. Puccachu quickly released gamma ray to protect me. The loud noises annoyed my neighbor who called the police. After knocking Makage down, I went inside, locked the doors and windows and started playing Digimon Story: Lost Evolution, leaving my neighbor alone with the vampire. When the police came, they took Mikage and my neighbor away, probably to AYA Federal Laboratory. And that was my first pokemon battle!"

I stared at him with disbelieve. "You blew my friend with gamma ray, you bastard!" I stated shaking him back and forth.

"Teito! Stop doing this, or else you'll start sweating again!"

I agreed. "So, do you think Mikage was brought to AYA Federal Laboratory to do the vaccine test?"

"Possibly yes, although it's quite possible that they want to use recovered people for other things. That should explain why Lance were told to announce his death. But I don't know if he succeed the test or not?"

"If you succeed, why wouldn't he?"

"Don't be too optimist; I'm not even sure that I have fulled recovered. Besides, the vaccine, like any other medication, must give different effect to different person. But don't worry, the estimated chance of success might be high because…" He came close to my ear and whispered, "Like I said before, those who found the vaccine are the one who created the virus."

"You really think it's a virus?" I whispered.

"Obviously, yes!" He went back. "It's impossible that something like a vampire pops in the real life without any logical explanation. Barsburg's first publicly spread out news about vampire apparition was on this spring, which means 6 months ago. I still remember that none of the articles or videos told us the reason how it appeared. They said that scientists will begin researching on it, yet no result is announced until a few weeks ago. Their promise for searching the reason end up with a mutated bird flu, which completely disturb the mind of doctors, biologist, evolutionists and so on. 'Kill the birds' is what our beloved president said in his latest speech. PETA must be in a serious dilemma now. Some governmental sites have revealed during these months some useless tips and advice for victims, such as 'call 911' or 'use a cord'. Beside the media, some PETA prone networkers have concluded on forums an alternative reason. They said that in the legend, Dracula, who drank blood to keep his beauty and to stay immortal, was the first vampire and he might be making a comeback in the world. But others say that Dracula was purified long ago; he was burned and dead in the flame. You can say that he's not that easy to be killed because he's immortal. But in the book 'Bibliography of Vlad III Dracula' that I found on Kiwipedia says those who got bitten by him couldn't change into vampires, they simply died. That means Dracula is innocent. So who's the culprit who started the 'flu'. Considering there's no way that undead, who can live only by drinking blood and turn its victims into one of them, appeared without being themselves victims, the beginning of the chain must be caused by a third factor."

"The birds?"

He looked at me for a moment. "No."

"The virus, then?"

"What virus?"

"But you said…" I just realized that I said 'virus' out loud. "The… mosquito virus!" I covered quickly.

"Oh… I remember reading it somewhere; the mosquito flu, spread all over the world! It was originally come from North America, where Americans polluted the rivers and lakes. The water was drunk by animals. The animals changed their genes. The mosquitoes drank their blood. New mosquito species attacked the Americans. The Americans became contaminated. Sick people traveled to Hawaii. Ayanami who went to Hawaii got contaminated and came back spreading the flu in Barsburg. And behold the human extinction! Hahaha." He looked at me for another moment. "No, that's not it."

I frowned. "What the hell did you just said?"

"It's just another hypothesis." He patted my head. "Now Teito, stop sweating!"

**A/N: It's school season again! The intense period is coming back and I may need more time than 24 hours per day. So, you understand, I can't update this until my next _free time_. And that might be on Christmas… or Labor Day. Don't worry, I never continue a story only to update it without being completely satisfied with my work. That means you can expect for a similar quality and originality for the following chapters even though my physical and mental condition will be temporally weakened. (Or an even better one, because I will challenge myself to improve my English.) So, thank you for your understanding, your reviews, your _favoriting_, your _alerting_, etc.)**

**Also, the part about Dracula has no source. But if you ever find something true about Vlad III Dracula and his vampire legend, please let me know.**

**Enjoy your life, while I'll enjoy my college entry. TT**


	6. GOOD THING HAPPEN WHEN YOU MEET STRANGER

**Isn't that an odd philosophy for a vampire?**

**CHAPTER FIVE: GOOD THINGS HAPPEN WHEN YOU MEET STRANGERS. (Yo-Yo Ma)**

On the next morning, a trio of doctors woke me up, well, I couldn't really tell if it was morning until they threw me out of AYA Federal Laboratory. The sunlight was too sharp for my eyes. I couldn't see their face.

"You have fully repaid your debt. You may now leave."

I may leave, like that? "What about Hakuren?"

"You have fulfilled your duty, please exit immediately. The rest is none of your concern."

"What will you do to him?"

"Please leave now."

"I'm not going anywhere."

"Teito," a voice called from behind. I turned to it and allowed my eyes to adjust to the intense sunlight. But the figure was easy to recall.

"Brother!"

He is the school janitor, the son of the previous chairman who took care of me after my parents entered the Barsburgish imperial army. People called him Castor. I had never figure out why. Perhaps this name was referring to his dyed castor-fur-like hair and eyebrows color.

"Teito!" He leaped to me and started pulling my ear. "You such a damn naughty boy this week, huh? Now get into the car, or else I'll kick your ass off… Good hell, did you take your bath regularly?"

"I –"

"That's what I thought. Now, get your ass into the car." He turned to the trio as I open the backseat door. "Sorry for causing you so much trouble. You know, young brothers are all bastards. I'm sure you've all experienced that." He entered the car and shouted, "Hey, we should hang out sometimes. I'll invite you for a drink or something, just to thank you gentlemen. It'll be fate! Haha!" He drove off.

[…]

"What have I told you about talking with the strangers?" Castor was standing in front of the stove, making fisheye noodle.

"Do never take their candy, it might be poisoned." I was standing behind him, hands in the back.

"Good. Since you've memorized that so well, why didn't you listen?"

"Hakuren is not a stranger."

"Oh really? Just how much you think you know about this asshole? Sure, he did tell you a little about him and his crazy wish to become a Pokémon trainer, but can you really believe this asshole? "

"I –"

"No, you can't. Maybe he got a debt from the AYA F.L. and they made him to get you into their lab, right?"

"I –"

"Just say 'yes'. You know you don't have other choice"

"… Yes."

"Good, now the authorities have forgiven you. So, step aside; the noodle is hot… Why you're still wearing this shit, go change yourself and take a bath. You'll not eat as long as you smell like ass."

"Ah", I interjected, annoyed.

I went to my room to pick up some clean cloth and I entered the bathroom.

After the death of the previews chairman, Castor was the one who took care of me. He had always been like that, rude and impatient, even before his father's death. But I knew he was just worried about me, like the time when I was with Mikage. He never allowed me to hang out with him until the first time Mikage protected me.

That was during my second term of grade 2 in Barsburg national academy. I had good notes in Biology and Chemistry so I was able to join the 3rd grade class. Some 3rd year students, notably Shuri, were mocking at me and the fact that I was the previews chairman's pupil. Castor was cleaning the garbage, so he wasn't with me during that time. But Mikage was, he came right after class to pick me up for Physics. When he saw that Shuri was making me to eat the bat that I was dissecting during the lab, he let his anger out.

"Oh, dear!" Shuri lolled. "I wonder what you can do to me, my little 2nd year friend."

"Don't you ever do that again." Makage said.

"Oh! I'm so scared. Hahaha!" He grabbed the scalpel and smirked. "Get out of my way."

"Try to cut me?"

Mikage tried to take the scalpel from him. They both sized hold of the tool, no one agreed to let go. Shuri turned and cut Mikage's face. Before he realized that he had harmed him, he turned again. A X shaped wound was drawn on Mikage's face.

I threw the dead bat on Shuri's head before he ran to the washroom to clean his hair.

"Mikage, are you alright?"

He was holding his cheek, but blood has already dyed his hand. He smiled, "from now on, Castor can't say anything about me. This scar is proof of my guardianship on you."

"Mikage, you stupid! That scar will never grow away, you know?"

"Then, let it be for this lifetime."

That was how he got the scar, the proof of his guardianship, the reason why he protected me so well and tried so hard for not letting me know that he got bitten. Come to think of it, was the Shuri in my Biology class the same as Hakuren's sister? They look much alike, but Hakuren's sister is not a boy. Anyhow, after he was officially claimed as guilty for Mikage's injury, I never saw him again.

Then, Mikage was the next to be gone.

And now, Hakuren…

I didn't want to lose anyone anymore. That was why I had to go back, back to AYA Federal Laboratory. I had to save Hakuren.


	7. WORRIED ABOUT STOPPING TERRORISM

**Isn't that an odd philosophy for a vampire?**

**CHAPTER SIX: EVERYONE'S WORRIED ABOUT STOPPING TERRORISM. WELL, THERE'S REALLY AN EASY WAY: STOP PARTICIPATING IN IT. (Chomsky)**

The next day, I went to school, alone. The morning was excessively silent. As I stepped into the classroom, I still tempted to lift my eyes to see if by any chance my friends were back. I knew my thoughts were hopeless and the seats were expected to be empty, but surprisingly, between the window and my seat, sitting at his usual desk, I saw him – Mikage.

There was the silence again.

I could run to him, I thought, but my legs were shaking. I just stood there, in front of the doorway. People were passing around me, looking at me as if I forgot to do my assignment. I couldn't care much about them. Not at this time. There might be thirty in my class, but I only saw Mikage, his face on his palm, his elbow on the table, his eyes turned, staring at the window. What was he looking at? Was he waiting to see me on my way to school? Was he waiting for me? I could feel my tears falling when his eyes turned to me and met mines. His gaze, so familiar, and then his smile.

"Teito..."

I went forward. My arm stretched to reach his.

"Mikage?"

"Teito! Wake up!"

Dime light, trembling seat, railway sound. Teacher Frau was shaking me. I looked around and found myself in the subway. The endless movement of the train's wheels rolling on the rails must had set me asleep while heading to the AYA Federal Laboratory.

"Asshole!" That was probably Castor's voice. "You bastard!" he screamed and pushed Teacher Frau aside. "Where were you going? to the clubs? Don't even think about it, you aren't getting any drinks at this age, stupid!"

He grabbed my ear and pulled me out of the train at the next stop. Teacher Frau laughed. Even Dr. Labrador was there.

"I wasn't heading to the clubs." I tried to explain. "I was going to AYA Federal Laboratory."

Castor freed my ear and forced me to sit on an empty bench. "Haven't you got enough trouble in AYA F.L.? If you're going there to invite the guards for a drink for me, why do you have to do it at this damn time? It's almost 2 AM!"

"That's not what I was going for."

"I don't care! You go home with me or I kick you out of the house."

"Uh, fine."

I couldn't believe that my plan failed. It took me all day to construct it. How did they find me so fast?

We went home by taxi. Castor said that Teacher Frau and Dr. Labrador were sleeping in. I knew they were his best friends, but it was the first time that they would sleep in.

After we entered our apartment, without a word, they pulled down all the blinds and settled a fire to a candle on the middle of the dining table. The three of them sat around, leaving one empty seat for me, waiting me to self-invite to their some kind of ceremony or whatnot.

"Come on, sit. Don't be shy," said Dr. Labrador with a smile.

I looked at Teacher Frau who was lighting his cigarette with the fire from the candle. Then I looked at Castor who nodded at me. I sat down, confused.

"Now," started Castor after a long pause, "let's begin!"

Dr. Labrador took out a thirty-inched iTablet from I didn't know where and carefully laid it on the table. After starting it up, a world map appeared in 3D. Castor passed me a 3D glasses while the others put theirs on. Dr. Labrador zoomed in the area that seemed to be Barsburg. There were many small red dots concentrated at that region. Several blue dots spread over the same surface. Most of them were gathered at the capital.

"Teito," said Castor with an unusual tone, "we have already saved Hakuren and Mikage."

Did I really hear their name? Mikage was not dead? This must be fate that whenever I tried to be heroic, somebody else would do the job before me. Should I be thankful that I didn't have to work too much?

"We have brought them to the destroyed ghetto of Verloren's laboratory while you were in the subway," he continued pointing at one of the blue dots on the map. "That's Mikage's position. Not long ago, I've put a nano-GPS in Mikage's drink when he came over to play DDR with you."

"What? Why?" I asked.

"It was for your protection. I had to keep tracks of him on the iMap for your sake. Although I know that he's one of us now, isn't this convenient that I can use it to keep tracks of you once we separate? That is we'll bring you there for you and your friends' safety. Make sure to always stay with Mikage so we know your position."

"Keep us safe from what?"

"To evacuate you from the civil war, Teito," Teacher Frau answered. "The A.B.C. against the authorities. Didn't Hakuren tell you that?"

"He did, but brother said that it was all false."

"No, it was true. Castor must have made that up."

"Yes," Castor admitted, "I made up a lot of things. Including the fact that the previous chairman of the school was my father. He wasn't; he was my grandfather."

"Does that make a difference?" I asked.

"No. But the truth that you are the son of Weldeschtein Krom Raggs might make a difference."

"I am what?"

"You're the president of Ragg's son, Tiashe. A long time ago, your father won the first place in International Penspinning Olympic and gained a blood-colored optical pen mode, called the Eye of Mikhail. It is the ideal piece targeted by pirates and treasure hunters, mainly the president of Antwort, who used her daughter to trick your father, which has resulted the death of your mother. After the sad episode, your father decided to lock the Eye of Mikhail in the forbidden dungeon of Seele and gave you the spinning combo that serves as the key to pass the great fyulong forever guarding the castle. Later, when the Barsburg army came to kill off all the A.B.C., Weldeschtein called his brother to take you to the Department of Penspinning in Havard so you could be the next best penspinner in the world and use the Eye of Mikhail to revenge for your father and his country. But your uncle didn't make it because he had to cross the Pacific Ocean by feet. He was chased by the Antwort army until he arrived to the seventh state, in Barsburg National Academy and died. So, my grandfather accepted to help you and adopted you because you were cute and you liked to eat his homemade eyefish."

"Where is... my father now?"

"He put his hand on my shoulder. "He's in a pit, Teito. I'm sorry."

"How come I didn't know this?" So, my past were a lie. Everything that I had done, the knowledge that I acquired at school - everything that Mikage and I did together - they were not? I did not know anymore. It happened too quickly. At first he died. Then Hakuren told me weird things. Then Castor said Mikage was still alive. Then he also said that my father was killed and vengeance was now my responsibility. What was this world made of? That God-author that wrote my life must be sick like the programmer of Cat Mario!

(Author:*evil laugh*)

"I know it must be hard for you." Teacher Frau said. "You got brainwashed. Before the Antwort army finds you here, Verloren relaunched the brainwash process. We still know this because we wrote down everything in a journal."

No, Mikage's friendship was not fake. I could tell from my heart, which was not brainwashable. "Then how can I remember the key spinning combo?"

There was a pause, then Castor said "that's a good question."

"We don't have time to discuss about this issue now," said Dr. Labrador. "They're approaching."

"Who?" I asked.

There were a bunch of red dots heading to an arrow labeled with the words "you are here".

"Quick, to the car!" Teacher Frau shouted and blew out the candle, while Dr. Labrador packed up his iTablet and the 3D glasses.

My eyes did not had the time to get use of the darkness before I knew we were already on the parking area, into Castor's car. Teacher Frau took the driver's seat.

"You're not coming?" I asked after realizing that Castor and Dr. Labrador are still standing on the street.

"No, the army is coming for us. We'll stay and fight them," said Castor. "I'll see you later, brother!"

It was the first time he called me "brother". All this time, he had hidden his real personality and identity by calling me with nicknames. "But-"

"Don't worry about it. They'll be fine," said Teacher Frau. "Now, put on your seat belt."

The car began to move. I turned to get a good view from the back window. Some solders in black suit had already arrived, surrounding Castor and Dr. Labrador, who each took out a long metallic glowing stick and started to spin between their fingers. I could hear faintly some solder shouting "Stop the terrorists!" The fight got on, and whoever gets touched by the sticks would fall and be eliminated from the battle. The sticks span through the solders as if they were one with their controller. With a few aerial techniques, Castor and Dr. Labrador knocked out their opponents like razors.

"What are you guys?" I asked amazed. "Are you really terrorists?"

"That's what they call us," Teacher Frau said. "But really, we are just penspinning champions."

* * *

**A/N: Hello! Sorry for not updating for so long. Happy new year by the way!**

**Introducing a new power: penspinning! Hope you liked it. (No, I'm not a penspinner. I can only do the thumbaround but that's about it.)**

**Until next time, hopefully not too long~**

**A/N (****Updated)**: Cat Mario is one of the most annoying game online. Of course, I don't have the talent to be its programmer. But it's definitely a game that worth to try**. XD **  



	8. SURVIVORS AREN'T ALWAYS THE STRONGEST

**Isn't that an odd philosophy for a vampire?**

**CHAPTER SEVEN: SURVIVORS AREN'T ALWAYS THE STRONGEST; SOMETIMES THEY'RE THE SMARTEST, BUT MORE OFTEN SIMPLY THE LUCKIEST. (Carrie Ryan)**

When the car parked below the dusty gates of Verloren's laboratory, I broke out and dashed into the deep achromatic ruin. "Mikage!" The dust in the air was so dense that I could barely hear the sound of my own voice. I passed through layers of cob webs, fallen gates, bones and toxic materials, until strands of long blond hair brought color to the nearest horizon.

I sprinted towards it, crying.

"Our hormones are very easy to excite."

"Mikage! Wait for me!"

"One drop of sweat is enough to make us go out of control."

"I'll stop sweating! I promise! As long as you're alive…"

"Teito!" Another voice appeared calling me. A black smelly hand grabbed me on the face from behind.

"Mikage!" I tried to reach out. But the color has suddenly became too far. "Mikage!" More hands grabbed on me, nails poking my face, and they pulled me away.

"Teito! Wake up and stop sweating!"

Eyes opened, I found myself lying on a pile of dry leaves and grass, head resting under Hakuren's hand who was tapping my cheeks. Now, I realized that long blond hair in my dream belonged to him.

"You hurt him!" Mikage yelled from behind.

"Haven't you hear what I said? If I don't wake him up, you'll hurt him even worst!"

"I am a professional vegetarian! Now, get your hands off of him." He pushed Hakuren away and helped me sit up. "How do you feel now?"

As he spoke, a scent of dead fish spread out from his mouth and all my excitement and joy went into oblivion. "Mikage, what happened to you?" I covered my nose.

"Oh, sorry about the bad breath. Like I said, I'm a 'vegetarian', that is in the sense that I only drink animal blood. But I didn't bring my hygiene kit so what can I do about it? For God's sake, they don't give us fangs; it would be a lot less messy."

"For the 'vegetarian' part, I'm not convinced. You drank mine, remember? " Hakuren adds.

"That was before I became professional."

"So this is what you call professional? Without toothbrush and toothpaste? Then I suppose I can be qualified as an expert!"

"You bastard!" He dropped me down and walked towards a sink, located at the back end of the rectangular room, which I took me some time to be aware of the missing roof. "I'll show you what an expert is!" and he began to rinse and brush with his index finger.

"Not close enough, experts have the ability to create tools to facilitate life. You are still at the level of an thirsty ape."

"We have water?" I pointed out to change subject. But I would surprised that the pipes were still flowing in such devastated place.

"That's a water recycling modified sink," Hakuren said instead when he saw that Mikage was too busy washing. "Frau made it, and gave us ten liters of water when we arrived here. So remember, pee and poop in those cans, shower in that tub." He pointed them, one next to the other, by the sink. "And we need human energy to feed the machine, i.e.: you go on the foot pump."

"Seriously?" I gawked at the large pomp that seems to elevate higher than myself. I got up. "What about water lost by evaporation?"

"That's also why we ask you to stop sweating. But don't worry; we have a bigger pomp to condense water particles in the air if the place doesn't rain as often as we need."

I refused to look at where he pointed to this time. "So, why was I asleep? I don't remember anything."

"You were attacked on the highway. Frau couldn't stop a few millions of vampires from approaching you at the same time. So he knocked you out in order to prevent you from releasing heat and sweat."

I could still feel a huge bump on my head, and the burning pain when it was touched.

"'You have a hard head,' he said. So he hit you twice with his pen-stick."

How ruthless. Once my Eye of Mikhail got into my hand I thought , he would be the one that needs to be knocked out.

"Ah-ha!" Mikage came back new and fresh, free from fish scent and blood stains. "Now, how do I smell?"

I approach his wide open puffing mouth and take a deep breath. "It's better. Although, there's a faint smell of … something else, I think."

"You guys are disgusting," commented Hakuren at meters away.

"Shut up, you're just jealous!" Mikage yelled.

"Hm no, I'm not jealous about your breath. But..." He approached us again and with a fast move of hand, tears off a piece of Mikage's skin.

"Ouch! Are you crazy?"

"You don't really feel pain, do you? This is a thin scale-like skin that gradually falls off as you produce more. I've notice that in AYA laboratory, day two, when I realized that no matter how much artificial blood I drink, I didn't need to go to the washroom."

I was quite surprised that he could count the days while I had completely lost the track of time.

"Hey, that's true. I don't remember going to the washroom since I turn into this. But what does it has to do with my skin?"

"See how much knowledge you lack in this survival game? So much for a professional. You are just lucky, lucky to meet a smart guy like me."

"Hey!" He grabs my hand. "Teito, let's celebrate our reunion somewhere away from this lunatic!"

"I'm just giving you the service of educating you about your current situation. Haven't you realize that we are technically already dead? Our organs don't function anymore. The reason why you think your lungs are still breathing and your heart is still pumping is because your body is so used to that routine that the muscles work automatically without giving any outcome."

"Why are you so sure about your theory?"

"Because I have just dissected a vampire. It's still in the underground cryonics lab. Want to come and admire my discoveries?"

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for all the comments/favorites/alerts. I know I leave a long period of time before updating the story, but it's very encouraging to know that there are still people who read/follow it. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!**


	9. BEAUTY IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER

**Isn't that an odd philosophy for a vampire?**

**CHAPTER EIGHT: BEAUTY IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER (Margaret Wolfe Hungerford)**

The sound of our outsole colliding the steel steps was low, dry and chilling. The air, between the windowless walls covered by torn posters of Verloren's face and chemical stain, was tainted with the smell of coal and black molds. We stopped at the 45th rusting tank, lying on the floor and Hakuren pulled out the dead-again faceless body. I covered my nose.

"You see?" Hakuren kneeled down, carefully pulled off a mouse-pad-sized vampire skin, scale patched and wet, and brought it below our eyes. "There was something that troubled me when I was in the lab. As my body turned more and more like a monster, the thought of becoming ugly and malodorous terrorized me. As far as I could remember, the vampire that I have encountered on my first Pokemon battle carries a distasteful smell and skin texture."

"Pokemon battle?" Mikage asked. It seemed very likely that I was the only one who Hakuren had told about his Pokemon fantasy. It should have be obvious that he lied to me on a few things in the AYA Federal Laboratory. Either way was fine, though. He must have his own reason for doing it.

Hakuren did not brother to answer, but instead he stared at Mikage for a few second until the latter seemed to remember something.

"Oh, that battle! Right!" There appeared to be some sort of eye exchange between the two as if they had something in common that I did not know. At this point, I suddenly felt lonely. "Wait, are you saying that I look ugly and stink?!"

Hakuren ignored the last phrase and continue. "But when my transformation stopped, I realize that my body hasn't turn into what I was expecting. My skin is more polished and my odor is less perceptible. So I supposed that my body hasn't had enough time to change before I received the vaccine."

Mikage regarded him suspiciously. "So all you are saying is that you think you look prettier than me, isn't it?"

"Eh, wrong paraphrase."

"Don't try to hide your real intention." Mikage walked to the corpse and points to it. "This dude looks even better than you – when he was not watery and smudgy like this."

"Fine, you have made your comment. Now if you excuse me, I have more lectures on your physiology to perform."

"Lectures?" Mikage straightened himself and tapped on his chest. "I have been in this body much longer than you have been in your new body. I haven't even punished you for not calling me _senpai_ and you're seeking to teach me? Let me show you, noob, what is a vampire really composed of!" Mikage squatted down near the corpse and continued his speech with excessive hand gestures. "This is a head! It has two eyes, a nose and a mouth that doesn't really show on this sample. Then we have the hairy part and the part below the clothes that I don't want to touch. Oh wait, why is it so flat?" He squishes an arm and turns back to Hakuren. "You didn't drink his blood, didn't you?"

"Well, why not?" He grinned.

"You were having a snack while you were supposed to search for grass? Haven't you thought about Teito's comfort on the hard cold ceramic?"

"I have, that's why I need to kill that uncontrollable vampire. When you're conquering a land, you need to explore it first. It's a basic strategy, _senpai_."

"Don't try to lecture me! I know everything already! And I know that if you didn't come here and open his tank, he wouldn't be uncontrollable."

"_Senpai_, don't you appreciate the work of a noob for finding such delicious place for our food supply?"

"I don't bite human!"

"Er," I said, "can't we cooperate?" Now, they were on it again. Sometimes they seemed to have some sort of intimate connection like that eye contact just a bit before. But sometimes they hated each other to death. It puzzled me. I did not even know why I cared that much.

Hakuren sat next to Mikage and raised the mouse-pad-sized skin below his nose. "Smell it." Now the tension shrunk back to a subtitle affinity. If one captured this image without the knowledge of previous events, one might even think that they were two friends or brothers engaged on some collaborative research project. Sigh. I should stop thinking, or else envy would take me over. "You should sense the scent of ammonia."

Mikage stood up quickly. "What? You mean this is how we deal with our urine."

"Not only urine, _senpai_. It's much more than what you think, _senpai_."

He backed off, scratching his arms and shoulders. Pieces of skin rained down, covering an area of the floor with a radius half of his arm length. Noticing it with disgust and horror, he retrieved himself from the mat of dead skin and sped up his hands' motion as if his body was covered with fleas. The movement just spread the skin particles further, and the smell became more noticeable. Meanwhile, Hakuren opened the rib cage of the corpse, digging into the organs possibly in search of other material to teach. The scratching and digging sound mixed with the smell – I had mentally prepared from some undesired surprise, but perhaps I was just not good enough at this. I turned around, tried not to vomit.

"It's no use, you'll produce more." Hakuren said, dropping some piece of flesh that I did not see. "From the day your cells stopped regenerating, this external shell of ammonia will serve as your protective coat. It repairs itself when damaged, blocks blood flow when it gets cut, covers all your scars and protects you from UV. You should be happy that they design you this shinny scale-like skin that differentiate you from a zombie."

"I don't care! It's gross!" The scratching suddenly stopped and a sound of footsteps approached me. "Teito, I'm sorry that I dirtied your clothes... and whatnot. Henceforth I will restrict myself from physical contacts... unless you say otherwise."

I turned around, masked with a forced smile. "Don't worry, Mikage. You're here and it's is already enough. I don't mind that we have different physiology. We'll think of something for your skin."

* * *

**A/N: Thanks again for all the comments/favorites/alerts. It's been a while since I started this story and I have unfortunately forgotten what was my initial plot. Oh well, I guess there'll be more improvisation ahead. XD If you have suggestions, I would be happy to integrate then in the following chapters! **

**Happy 2013 by the way. May this new year be full of opportunities, successes and high marks (if you are a student) or high income! **


	10. WHY IS THE NIGHT SKY DARK?

**Isn't that an odd philosophy for a vampire?**

******CHAPTER NINE: WHY IS THE NIGHT SKY DARK? (Olbers' paradox)**

With no sense of time, since our cell phone had ran out of battery, dusk came faster than I expected. In the middle of the room where I woke up, we lighted the coal that we gathered from the cryonics lab and sat around the fire like how people did during the period when electricity and chairs were more expensive than milk and bread. None of us actually knew how to initiate combustion with friction. I was glad to hear that Frau gave his cigarette lighter to Hakuren at the last minute before he departed. I hoped they would come pick us up in victory. And I could only hope and pray for them, while watching the fire dancing with its smoke.

At first, I thought the low intensity of the fire we tried to keep was the reason why I could not smell any smoke. But when Mikage yawned and raised his head, "Wow! Look at the stars!", I knew that the missing roof was really the reason I should have thanked for.

It has been so long that the sky in the city was covered with smog. I could not remember when was the last time when I could count more than five stars and less than six planes. Neither I could remember for how long I thought that the universe contains less stars than the above patch of sky currently revealed. It troubled me when I rethought about the astronomy textbook that we studied in high school; the night is dark because there is not enough stars at each point of the sky that could fill that background with light. Who was the discoverer of this principle? Olbaren? Olberine? Someone in Verloren's party for sure.

"Alright, enough stargazing."Hakuren said, his right hand waving a wooden stick in front of our eye. If the contrast made by the angle of the fire on his face was more distinct, then he might look more fearful. "Mikage, go fetch Teito some food while I inform him about our mission."

_Mission_, I repeated the word in my head. Of course, I had the responsibility to revenge for your father and his country. Perhaps Frau had found and told them a way to find the Eye of Mikhail or to make me remember the key spinning combo. I felt a sudden rush of excitement and anxiety.

"Why do I have to go get food?" Mikage grabbed onto the stick and pulled, but Hakuren refused to let go.

"Because if I go, you'll have a chance to hurt him."

Mikage bit his lips and peeked at me. For the first time, despite the faint light, I noticed the bloody crimson color of his iris, bloodier than Hakuren's. He released the stick, stood up and padded off the dirt clinging his bottom. "I won't hurt him," he grumbled with disapproval but still obeyed and disappeared behind the fire, leaving me a sensation that he might... actually hurt me.

"Where is he going to get food?" I tried to disconnect the monster image from Mikage. Perhaps it was the flame that gave the wrong color to his eyes.

"Don't worry. Just in the neighboring forest. Since he is such a professional 'vegetarian', he'll catch some food in no time."

"Oh." I bent my knees, lock them with my arms and drop my head onto them. The night seemed to have gotten darker and colder.

"Teito." Hakuren imitated my position but could not fold himself as much as I could. "How can you be so flexible."

"Hm, practice?" I kept my eyes at the flame. I felt calm and secure in this position.

Hakuren put a hand on my shoulder. "I'm aware that you're concerned about his current state. It must have been a shock for you to see your good friend becoming like this. But I must warn you to be cautious. If something happens, I might not even be able to help you."

"You mean his bad smell?" I said, denying the other possibility.

"Not exactly. But that can be another reason to keep distance with him. What I meant is that he is different than me."

"Rather you are different than everyone else." I was starting to get sick of his voice and of his self-overrated pride. "Mikage is my best friend. We fought vampires together. If one of us is in danger the other one can risk his life to save the other. How can he possibly hurt me?"

He sighed. "People attacked by the vampire virus are not themselves anymore. I remember looking at the glass of artificial blood for the first time. The scent was so delightful that what I saw was a giant lollipop sitting on a beach of pink marshmallows and gummy bears."

"Giant lollipop?"

"Yeah. Doesn't that image make you want to jump over it, bite it and suck it?"

"... Er..."

"But after a while, the image of that glass of blood became less desireful. The taste and the smell became more and more disgusting. Soon, I knew that it was because the antidote was taking effect. So now, blood, however necessary for my existence, is really like a meal made of weed and bark to me. That's why I don't desire to bite you, no matter how much you hyperventilate and sweat. But for Mikage, it's different since he did not get the antidote. Although he tries to be 'vegetarian' (which is a dumb way to call himself since it implies animals are vegetables), he cannot deny his desire for drinking human blood. To him, animal blood is like cabbages and peas, but human blood is cabbages, peas and giant lollipop."

"So what's the right word for animal blood drinkers?"

"... I don't know. But that's not the point. The point is-"

"I understand what you mean," I said, slightly embarrassed to have suspected him for the wrong idea. "But I wish you two can get along. Both of you are my friends and I don't want to see you two disputing all the time for small things."

"Well, I can't do much about it. Mikage thinks that he is 'professional' at controlling himself, and I don't. From the start we are already having conflicting views. Either he stays away from you or kill me. If I don't protect you from him, you might not even know how you, the last hope of your father and his country, will be thrown into a pit."

I smiled. Whether he was concern about revenge or me, I felt lucky that I met him, and Mikage, the two who were willing to protect me with their life. However, this made my vulnerability and weakness clearer, and gave me the impression that there could still be time before strength and independence become a necessity. Nonetheless, there was a warm sensation of happiness and security growing inside me. I was still not convinced that Mikage would bite me, though. And I was sure that he will prove that to us eventually. "Oh," I finally turned my gaze to Hakuren, "you wanted to talk to me about a mission?"

Before Hakuren could answer, a hideous smell blasted behind us. "I'm back!" Mikage yelled with his torso naked and his right shoulder carrying something like a sac. "I think the forest was once an abandoned farm that supplied food for Verloren's laboratory. Luckily it still grows apples and pears. But they didn't get fertilizer and bug spay so they are small and covered with holes. But they are better for Teito than the raw meat of birds or squirrels." He walked to the other side of the fire and lay down what he was carrying; it was his shirt, enveloping several tens of egg-sized fruits. "Though I know we have fire and maybe at least one of you know how to cook, but... Well, actually I admit that I couldn't catch much. Wild animal are a lot smarter and faster than those in the city." As he sat down, he noticed that Hakuren and I both had our nose covered with our hand, he pulled his shirt out from the pile of fruits and uneasily put one of his arms into it. "Sorry about... that. I was too hot trying to pick the fruits. Ok, I guess you're going to say vampire's sweat is made of excrement, too."

"To begin with, sweat contains uric acid, which is found in urine." With his nose blocked, Hakuren sounded a lot more comical. "And that doesn't only apply to vampire. Since your skin production takes most of you excrement, I guess your sweat still has the same chemical component as before. If that's true then bad smell happens when your sweat is mixed with bacteria as usual. Otherwise, I suppose the odor can be slightly stronger than before."

"Mikage," I interrupted, "it must have been a long time that you didn't take a complete bath. We'll help you clean up."

"Really?" A bright smile traced on Miakage's face as he pushed his head out of his shirt.

"What? Help him? Clean up?" Hakuren stared at me in astonishment.

"If you don't want to I'll help him by myself."

"No, no. I'll help, too." He quickly changed his mind. As I thought, he wouldn't stand watching Mikage and me alone in same the bath tub.

* * *

**A/N: Ha! I won't abandon this fiction, so don't you worry. :)**


	11. THE MOUNTAIN BETWEEN US

**Isn't that an odd philosophy for a vampire?**

**A/N: short chapter, just for fun~**

**********CHAPTER TEN: THE MOUNTAIN BETWEEN US IS THE ONE I CANNOT CLIMB (Charles Martin)**

The floor below the once existing ceiling had been destroyed so badly that the smoothest exposed surface must be covered with grass and leaves for a body to lay down without sensing the cracks. There might be better spots in the corners, which were all however taken by wood, stone fragments and steel bars. I looked at the stars behind the fading clouds as my fingers tries to count the number fissures on the patch of dusty ceramic next to my hips, and I pretended that I was a mouse trapped in a box that was thrown into space. It seemed so unreal to me that for something like "space" and "stars" that we barely talked about at school would have such marvelous features. Somebody should have investigate more on those, no? All we knew was that we were going to Heaven or Hell depending on how well we served our country and our people.

A heavy snore pulled me out from my train of thoughts, which I had recognized immediately. After being with Mikager for so many years, listening to his stertors to me was like a baby in the embrace of the mother's heartbeat. It was strong and loud, a hurl of comfort and care that he kept sending me even while asleep, a hurl filled with the power of his masculinity. Once more, I said to myself that our friendship was true, that it was not manufactured through the brainwash process. Why else would Castor believe him, too, and sent me to him. I turned my head toward the sound that I had missed so, and tried to see the movement of this lips, which was the best part of this intimate moment. Despite the darkness, my eyes were able to trace a figure a few meters away from me. It was probably lying face-up with his hands crossed under his head.

Mikage had been a bit displeased after he learned that Hakuren had not yet told me anything about the mission. The latter blamed that he was too fast, that even if we did start talking about it right after he left, we would not even have the time to get into the most important details. Though Hakuren said that speed enhancement was not an effect of the virus, Mikage's quickness was still quite impressive compared to normal human. It was much like the time when I got knocked down by a vampire, I may have felt unconscious for a long time but that assumption would be unreasonable because the more time I passed lying outside, the more I was in danger of getting bitten by some other vampire. Perhaps it was Mikage's caring for me that allowed him to speed up. Sometimes human's natural power could be quite amazing.

The room suddenly felt into silence. For people who never heard of Mikage's snores, they might think that he was suffocating. But I knew what exactly was coming up in his nocturnal symphony. My eyes widened at the eagerness to capture more light from his direction while I mentally prepare for my ears to received his next beat. GRZRZHZRHZHZHRHZHRHZ! A perfect superlative staccato with a fermata - it was explosively stunning, the climax of my intimate pleasure.

The figure that my eyes were fixing moved. He sat up, hands touching around until they pulled up an apparently large piece of wood. He placed it upright on the side that is further from my eye, as if to prevent something to reach him behind this new installed wall. Before he lay back, I saw his long hair, swinging and dangling around his arms; and I remember that Hakuren said that he would sleep between me and Mikage so he can have a chance to prevent me from being "accidentally" attacked.


	12. THERE IS NO MORE INDEPENDENCE

**Isn't that an odd philosophy for a vampire?**

**********CHAPTER ELEVEN: THERE IS NO MORE INDEPENDENCE IN POLITICS THEN THERE IS IN JAIL (Will Roger) **

"Teito," he picked me up from the pile of dry leaves and grass, "starting from today, you must learn how to hunt your own food and fight your predators." I opened my eyes after Hakuren took his hand off my arms and walked to Mikage. The two exchanged a few words about chasing something in the forest and Mikage had a sightly bitter tone. Soon, Hakuren came back and pulled me towards the exit.

"Where are we going?" I quickly stepped on my feet.

"How do you expect to spin a pen with those thin fingers, huh?" We arrived near the wall where Mikage is leaning on, head looking on the floor. "And if _senpai_ is too grumpy this morning, he may take a day off. I'll train you myself."

"Mikage?" I turned to him. But my call was futile; he ignored it and coldly moved his head away.

Hakuren sighted and dragged me out of the building.

The fog of the early morning was too thick for my eyes to sense the direction we were heading to. But since Hakuren was still holding my hand, I only had to follow him. It reminded me of the first time when Mikage gave me his hand and the friction between our shoulders as they collides while we walked above our shadow so closely aligned that they seemed to have fused into one unity. That was a long time ago, though, so long that I could not remember when exactly.

After a moment, Hakuren pulled his hand away; maybe he noticed that I was staring at it.

"W-what happened to Mikage?" I said the first thing that came up in my mind - as to lower the temperature.

"I don't know. He must have drunk the wrong blood yesterday?"

"Should we just leave him like that? Also, Castor told me to stay with him so he can keep track of me in his iMap."

Don't worry, we're not going very far, anyway. We'll be staying here!" He gesture with his arms.

I looked around. "Here's where?"

"The abandoned farm where he picked fruits for you yesterday."

I raised my head and saw a few egg-sized apples dangling on the near branches.

"Today's training is to climb up the trees and pick as many fruits as you can. By the way, our mission is to train you before Frau and the others come to pick us. We have to make sure that you'll be able to spin a 2 lb. pen-stick. By then, you'll be ready to return to the A.B.C.."

"Return?" For a moment, I was confused by the implication of his statement.

"What? Castor didn't tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

He blinked. "That his apartment is the secret site for the A.B.C. to hang out. And since you've been there, using the word 'return' makes more sense, no?"

"Really?" Though, it did kind of make sense, especially with what happened before I came to the ghetto. "But if there were a lot of people hanging out there, how come I didn't noticed that?"

"Because you weren't good at noticing such things? There aren't that many members and probably Castor made sure that you're already in bed before inviting them into the room. You should ask him."

"But-" I blinked again. Somehow, he's voice sounded less confident. "Aren't you a member? You should know this."

"Of course I am. But that doesn't mean that I attend the meetings. Now, we don't have time to lose on this. Show me your fingers." I gave him my hands. He touched them a while, bent the joints and compared the size. "Very good hands. Very long and flexible fingers. A great gift from the mother nature." Then he licked one finger. "Very good texture, too."

"Hakuren?" I said uneasily.

"Oh, you thought I was going to bite you?"

"No... not that I'm afraid of being bitten. It's just that I went to relieve myself yesterday night and... I didn't wash my hands so we can save more water."

He grinned. "Do you really think me, who's skin is made of urine would still care about avoiding touching urine with my tongue? Besides, we have to live with a man that smells like urine and you ate the food that he picked for you yesterday. I'm flattered that you care about my well-being, but it's not the time to let those urban norms limit your actions to increase survivability."

I frowned. "Does that mean me may need to drink our pee to if we are out of water supply?"

"No, you'll be only one who'll drink because Mikage and I only drink blood. But don't be discourage before trying it. You might even like it." His grin grew larger.

Although here we were no longer bounded by a small room with an eternally illuminated light bulb on the high ceiling, at least in AYA Federal Laboratory, we were given food and water. The perceptive of living with one's own capability scared me. Since elementary school, I had been taught that many people who attempted to leave Barsburg on their own, some by car and some by feet, were found dead on the road due to dehydration and hunger or eaten by wild animals. There was a direct and immediate association between leaving the country's walls, danger, resource deprivation and death. Of course, the ghetto is still within the state's barrier, yet I could not resist thinking of that. Had I become a parasite to the society?

No, I was brainwashed. How can I still reference myself to those memories?

He looked around and picked up a stick that was a couple centimeters shorter than a meter. " The first step to master a weapon is to get familiar with it." He hand me the stick. "This is your weapon. You are not allowed to touch the fruits attached to the branches; you can only use this to collect them. Each time you fail the regulation, you'll get 10 push-ups punishment. Once you collect the fruits, you can put them on the ground."

"How many do you want me to collect?"

"As many as you can."

"But if I collected a lot of them, do you want me to eat them all?"

"You have breakfast, lunch, dinner and maybe tomorrow's breakfast to enjoy all this. Depends on whether you can level up quickly so I can teach you how to catch animal. Though, a lot of fruits? - don't except yourself to be that good."

I looked at the egg-sized apple and felt that by stomach restarted to complain about yesterday's meal. The pear was full of bugs and the apple was so sour that it could melt my teeth. When Castor tutored me in biology I thought his teaching was already unbearable. Now this, and I have never been good in physical education.

Hakuren waved the stick in front of my eyes. I swallowed my saliva and took it.


	13. NO GREAT MIND HAS EVER EXISTED

**Isn't that an odd philosophy for a vampire?**

**********CHAPTER TWELVE: NO GREAT MIND HAS EVER EXISTED WITHOUT A TOUCH OF MADNESS (Aristotle)**

The rough surface of the stick was irritating my hands. The sun had long warm up the temperature and I haven't been able to collect a single fruit, while three times 10 push-ups punishments had already been accumulated.

"And I said to the Flatlanders that they can only see sides, while I can see planes, therefore I was able to see through their walls and through their flesh."

I had not formulated a reasonable plan to successfully climb on a tree without encountering squishy caterpillars and bee hives.

"Unfortunately, my effort was to no avail. They still don't understand and called me a pervert."

Fortunately there were an apple, a really small one, only a few centimeters above my shoulders. However, no matter from which angle I hit its stalk, it would just slide across stick and stay hanging on the branch.

"So I had no choice but to poke them out from my computer screen."

I even tried to pierce it, but that hard resistant skin needed more momentum that I though.

"It was a risky experiment since nobody has ever done that before. Are you still listening to me, Teito?"

If the tree were allowed to talk it would be mocking at me right now.

"Teito!"

"What?" I turned to Hakuren after hitting the apple once more. The latter swung back and bumped my head.

"Ah, that's another 10 push-ups."

"Hey, that's not fair!"

"It's almost lunch time. But I presume that you won't the opportunity to prepare your meal. Maybe you have to skip this one, too."

"That's because you kept distracting me with your story that makes no sense!"

"No sense? It's an analogy of ours and the upper dimensions. It should make more sense to human brain than if I were to explain directly."

I dropped the stick and lied down on the muddy grass and twigs. My arms ached and my legs trembled due to my empty stomach that stayed empty since this morning. Hakuren's face appeared in front of the clear sky.

"Well, I guess you can start doing push-ups now for the time left. How much is four times ten?"

"Forty?"

"Is that the answer of a question?"

I sat up. "Do you really think I'm that stupid?"

"Now, being a cute kid isn't the same thing as being stupid. They are not synonyms."

"Arg, stop calling me a kid." We had the same age. I lied down again.

"Come on, roll over and do forty push-ups. Human can survive without eating for weeks. Think about your father who, in order to help the A.B.C. refugees, give away his food and starved for 40 days."

"Really?"

"Have I ever lied to you? Ok, except the time when I told you that I had a sister because I've always wanted a chubby sister that has trouble in her love life and seeks advice about guys from me... and also the time when I told you not to sweat while I was already cured because I like how you make your anxious face... and also-"

"Hakuren?" There was a pause. "Can you not lie to me anymore?"

"I'm sorry. Did I get you an overdose?"

"No, it's because Castor told me that I was brainwashed. My memory is all mixed up and I don't know what is true and what is not true anymore."

"Aw," he patted my head. "I wouldn't need to lie to you if there wasn't any surveillance. Eventually, I'll tell you about what happened before your memory lost. Now, do your push-ups, ok?"

Somehow, I felt like I've been patted like that before, not only in AYA Federal Laboratory, but some other time in the distant past. Those memories that popped out from nowhere, there I could not even be sure that they existed in reality, were becoming an annoyance. Whatever.

I rolled over and bent my arms. One. Hard. Heavy. Pain. Gravity. They were exactly the words that I would put as hashtags on Twitter. I needed energy. Two. I dropped my body onto the soil, like a dead man. Surviving for weeks without eating might be possible. But surviving, doing push-ups and hitting apples was not. Soon, a smell of roast chicken appeared. I quickly got up and saw Hakuren holding a gold skinned chicken pierced through by a tree branch.

"Where did you get it?" I torn off a leg and bit it, arms trembling. I torn the other one and squat down.

"From the future." He smiled and sat beside me, still holding the branch with the chicken.

If I were not that hungry I would have spit out what I just swallowed. "What are you talking about?" Was that another lie?

"After I brought A Square out of my program he told me that there must exist another dimension, a matrix beyond Spaceland. It was called Spacetime. As he said, if a Spacelander is good at Pokemon training then it'll have no problem level up to a Spacetimer!"

"Wha-?" I wondered why he kept saying things like that. From the time I met him in the washroom to now - I felt like as if I was wandering with Alice in Wonderland and had tea with the Mad Hatter. I could not understand most of what he said, and when I could, the difficulty turned into deciding whether to believe in what he said or not. Though, if he was still talking nonsense, would that imply that we were still monitored under the eyes of the authorities?

"Let me show you something." He stuck the branch onto the ground and took out two pen-sized silver metallic sticks from the sleeve of the school uniform that he was still wearing since the days he got in AYA Federal Laboratory. He connected the two from the back cap and they automatically stretched out like reversed radio antennas, revealing the middle section and the section towards the tips covered with flashy pink rubber. "A spinable pen of this size is called a 'super pen'. A particular design of a super pen is called a 'super mod'. Different from the ordinary, non-weapon spinable pens which are around twenty centimeters, the super pen is about pi time longer. And what is pi times twenty?"

"Uh... 62.8 something?" I dropped a chicken bone on the ground.

"I didn't asked you to round it."

"Do you want me to give you all the digits?"

"No, why would I want to know that. Do all mathematicians, physicists and engineers write all the digits of pi every time they write pi? Just say 20 pi."

I rolled my eyes. "So like Castor, Teacher Frau and Dr. Labrador, you are also a penspinning champion?"

"... hum-hum hahahaha... So that's the term they used to call themselves."

What was so funny about that? That was the term Frau used to call themselves - but in front of me. I suddenly realized that there was something that they, those grown ups and Hakuren, all knew about, except me. Though, it made sense that they needed to plan everything so perfectly to gradually recover my memory. However, I still felt rejected and vulnerable. I wondered why they did not start sooner.

"But that doesn't sound too bad, I guess I'll use that to call myself, too, for now."

"Is Mikage also?"

"I don't know. You can ask him, I suppose. But there exist various sports that can make you gain speed: eraser spinning, cellphone spinning, scissors spinning, paper clip whipping, and the list goes on. If you're interested, I can introduce you to some of my friends on Facebook who are into those. So, there are various super mod. The one that I'm holding is called the 'Double Wiggle Pink Fantasia Super Mod'." He approached the super pen to my eye. "Don't confuse this with the 'Double Wiggle Pink Fantasia Mod', which is about pi times shorter and cannot break down and shrink. The most important part of this super mod which makes it a powerful weapon is that spinning it with the Double Wiggle Pink Fantasia Combo, the tips of the super pen will vibrate (or wiggle) at phi hertz."

"Phi?" I pulled out the branch and started biting the chicken's torso.

"The golden ratio."

"Oh, 1.61...?"

"If you want to round it, round it correctly. The next digit is 8."

"I'm not trying to round it."

"Don't talk with your mouth full. As I was saying, the amplitude at the tips would be high enough to wiggle anything they touch at that frequency. Similarly, other super mods have their own specialty and power. But don't confuse yourself when I say 'power'; this is no metaphysics. A more theoretical course will be given once you learn how to spin. As a beginner penspinning champion, you must nevertheless master the ordinary pen before spinning the super pen without hurting yourself. Take this." From the inside of his blazer, he took out a never sharpened pencil, covered with the graphic of two dancing rabbits on a pink background. "This is the Double Wiggle Pink Fantasia Mod."

"This? This is so different from the longer one." I took away one hand from the branch, ready to receive the pencil.

"This is not a shorter version of the 'longer one'. They are different mods!" He quickly moved it away. "And don't touch a pen with a hand full or grease."

"Teito! Hakuren!" Mikage's voice called from behind. He was holding an apparently dead fox on his shoulder and a brown rabbit in his hand. "Hm, I was trying to catch food for myself and my prey was hunting another prey which I thought you might want to have it. But it looks like you've already ate."

"Mikage!" I ran to him, still holding the branch. Soon, the odor of the chicken was completely replaced. But I still wrapped my arms around him. "I'm glad you're in a better mood now." We stayed like that for a while and I tried ignore the mixture of dead fox, blood and other smells as much as possible. "I was worried that I did something that made you mad."

"Huh? Why makes you think you made me mad?" He pushed me away so he could see me better. Meanwhile, the rabbit was struggling to get its ears released from his hand. "This morning I was just- The truth is I didn't catch anything yesterday because it was too dark so I was starving this morning. I was mad at that bastard who took all the day time talking about physiology while I could have use the precious sun light to get food." He pointed Hakuren.

"It's not my problem that you didn't want the food in the cryonics." Hakuren fleered. At first, I thought I might need to act like their mom and tell them to stop fighting once and for all. But then, he glanced at me, sighed and walked to Mikaged. "Well, I might have gone too far yesterday. Please forgive my over-excitement on physiology, _senpai_." He took out his hand and smiled.

Mikage looked at the palm, turned to me, then closed his eyes, scratched his head. "Geez, if you told be earlier that you were into science and whatnot, I wouldn't have thought that you were trying to impress Teito so you can steal him away from me." Smiling, he grabbed Hakuren's hand and shook it. "I'm sorry for what I said, too."

I stared at the two, amazed by the fast reconciliation. My smiled joined them, my heart freed from a heavy rock.

"So," Hakuren waved his arms after the hand shake, "now we can train Teito together like parents and son."

"What?" He jerked.

"Oh, would you have prefer the image if our child was actually a girl, and perhaps if some more drama were added to our family story: like incest?"

He threw the dead fox to his face. "Hakuren, you bastard!"

* * *

**A/N: ****Are people familiar with Flatland here? :p**

**It is from Brandegee where "I feel as if I had been wandering with Alice in Wonderland and had tea with the Mad Hatter" came from. Though I read it in a quote from Charles Lane Poor.**

**Got to start school soon. I'll see if I can add one more chapter before the end of summer. I've revised my previous chapters, added some details and correction. (I probably didn't find all the mistakes. But I did found enough to make myself pity my readers. Sorry for my bad English. ^^") But you can still follow if you don't want to read everything over again. **


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